has been perfected in us. In verse 13-16 he has enlarged on the divine indwelling; in verse 17-21 he reverts MY FIRST CHRISTMAS I’ve had my first Christmas in Heaven, A glorious wondrous day. I stood with the saints of the ages Who found Christ the truth and the way. I sang with the heavenly choir, Just think, I longed so to sing, And, oh, what celestial music We brought to our Saviour and King. We sang the glad songs of redemp tion, How Jesus to Bethlehem came, And how they had called His name Jesus That all might be saved through His name. We sang once again with the angels The song that they sang that blest morn, When shepherds first heard the glad story. That Jesus the Saviour was born. Oh, loved one, I wish you had been here, No Christmas on earth could com pare With all of the rapture and glory We witnessed in heaven so fair. You know how I always loved Christ mas, It seemed such a wonderful day With all of my loved ones around me, The children so happy and gay. Yes, now I can see why I loved it And, oh, what a joy it will be When you and my loved ones are with me To share in the glories I see. So dear ones on earth here's my greeting, Look up till the day dawn appears And oh, what a Christmas awaits us, Beyond all our partings and tears. —Albert Simpson Reitz to the theme of perfect love, although now he is concerned with the perfec tion not of God’s love in us but of our 31
ed by the witness of the Spirit (cf. v. 7).” 16. The historical mission of Je sus is evidence as much of the Fa ther’s love as of the Son’s deity. It tells us not only that God loved, but also that God is love. However, it is one thing to know and believe the love that God hath to us and that God is love; it is another to learn to love and to abide in love ourselves. Yet this we must do, for (as John has unfolded at great length in verses 7-12) the love that is eter nally in God and was historically manifested in Christ is to come to fruition in us. The only way to love, as the only way to believe (15), is by dwelling in God and God in us. The apostle does not mean that the way to come to dwell in God and He in us is to confess Christ’s divine Sonship (15) and to abide in love (16), but the reverse. It is the divine indwelling which alone makes possi ble both relief and love. They are its fruit, and therefore its evidence: “He who dwells in love is (i.e. is thereby seen to be) dwelling in God” (NEB). There is, then, in these verses a double interweaving of themes, first of believing and loving (the doctrinal and social tests), and secondly of the mission of the Son and the witness of the Spirit through which both are possible. There is objective histori cal evidence in the sending of the Son both of His deity (which we have seen, 14) and of the Father’s love (which we have known and be lieve, 16). But even this is insuffi cient. Without the Holy Spirit our minds are dark and our hearts cold. Only the Holy Spirit can enlighten our minds to believe in Jesus and warm our hearts to love God and each other. So believing and loving are evidence that His Spirit is at work within us. Perfect Love (4:17-21). In verse 12 John declared that if we love each other, God dwells in us and His love
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